Last Updated on May 11, 2025 by Matt Staff
It’s an immersive experience to look back and note just how much things have changed. Of the many decades throughout human history, the ’60s were perhaps the most turbulent and technicolor decade. From the boundary-pushing pop culture to the society-shifting movements that were carried out, each event presented on this list can show how the ’60s reshaped our collective imagination of the time.
1. The time of Beatlemania
Four iconic, mop-topped Brits land on The Ed Sullivan Show and ignite a complete global outbreak of screaming and fainting teens that even the Cold War couldn’t contain.
2. Humans Orbit the Earth, Twice (1961)
Legendary cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin proceeded to circle the globe in 108 minutes, shouting “Poyekhali!” Which translates to “Let’s go!” This was exclaimed as he won the first lap of the Space Race.
3. Berlin Wakes Up to a Wall (1961)
The East German soldiers proceeded to unspool barbed wire overnight, in effect splitting the streets, families, and also football teams, before concrete slabs then sealed the whole divide.
4. Cuban Missile Crisis Gets the Planet Sweaty (1962)
For 13 extremely high-stress days, Soviet nukes out in Cuba and also U.S. blockades in the Atlantic pushed the Doomsday Clock to 11:59 p.m.
5. The Birth-Control Revolution (1960)
Birth control pills hit pharmacies near and far. This as a result handed millions of women an unseen level of control over family planning, and also fueled a cultural earthquake.
6. “I Have a Dream” Rings Out (1963)
Out on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. was able to shift a quarter-million people marching into a full-on echo chamber for civil-rights hope.
7. JFK Assassination Stuns the World (1963)
A sole motorcade in Dallas ended a presidency, and also sparked widespread conspiracy theories about exactly what happen that are passionately debated over today
8. British Mods vs. Rockers Beach Brawls (1964)
Vespa-riding Mods and leather-outfitted Rockers were able to transform sleepy, quiet seaside towns into teen-rebellion battlegrounds that are right out of a comic book.
9. Free Speech Fires Up Berkeley (1964)
Students ended up seizing a police car as a full-on podium. This then served to kick into a high-gear a whole protest culture that would end up spreading from California to Kent State.
10. Summer of Love Paints San Francisco Psychedelic (1967)
There were around 100,000 hippies who ended up swarming Haight-Ashbury. They swapped neckties for tie-dye, and then ultimately, this would set the soundtrack for “Flower Power.”
11. First Super Bowl Kicks Off (1967)
The AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs took on the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. Then they gave birth to America’s most unofficial holiday.
12. Heart Transplants Become Possible (1967)
Dr. Christian Barnard replaced a failing human heart in Cape Town, which then proved that ticker swaps aren’t all sci-fi hype.
13. “All You Need Is Love” Broadcast to the Planet (1967)
The Beatles perform live via satellite to 400 million viewers, turning pop music into the world’s first global group hug.
14. Tet Offensive Shocks U.S. TV Screens (1968)
Coordinated Viet Cong attacks were responsible for upending many assumptions regarding imminent victory, and also turning public opinion against the Vietnam War.
15. May ’68 Turns Paris into a Barricade (1968)
Students and striking workers workers occupy the Sorbonne, occupied factories, and also nearly toppled the French government with graffiti and cobblestones.
16. Prague Spring Blossom, Then Tanks Roll In (1968)
Czech hopes that had taken off for “socialism with a human face” lasted upwards of four months right before Soviet armor crushed the bloom.
17. Stonewall Uprising Ignites LGBTQ+ Activism (1969)
A routine raid on a Greenwich Village bar was met with unforeseen resistance. This then lit the fuse for Pride movements across the world.
18. Woodstock Turns a Cow Pasture into Myth (1969)
Half a million muddy concertgoers were able to share a full-on three days of peace, love, and also feedback squeal, even with food shortages and a single pay phone.
19. Apollo 11 Moonwalk (1969)
Neil Armstrong’s boot print was responsible for pressing into lunar dust. Humankind is then officially a species not limited to one space rock. This was then broadcast fuzzy black-and-white to living room sofas everywhere.
